Chapter 497: Freedom or shackles

After giving out his orders Ren stood up from his throne and left the room. Lara, Tsukiyomi, Silika, and Valdel noticed a slight change in Ren's expression. Even the way he said those words that should have been filled with excitement were truly empty. 

The three girls were quick to act but the moment they saw each other moving at the exact same time they understood that they had the same intentions as the other. 

"Kukuku, I wonder what are you girls up to?" Tsukiyomi looked at the two girls as she spoke with a smile on her face.

"Hmph, how about you, what is it you're scheming?" Lara clenched her fist ready to strike. 

"You two are so hotheaded, we don't need to do this." 

"Heh, spoken like a true grandma." When Tsukiyomi said those words Silika's eyebrows twitched a bit. 

"Why must you keep on talking about our ages? Haven't we agreed that in our case age is nothing more than a number?" 

"Please do not group me with two grandmas like you. Unlike you two this body of mine is as new as it looks. The only thing that has aged is my memories." Lara interjected while looking at Tsukiyomi. 

"Kukuku, In Silika's opinion to people like us, age is but a number, but in my opinion age is more important than you think. As an Ethereal, my body is growing but ever so slowly, and once it reaches its peak state it will stop growing and remain that way until the day I cease to exist. You could also say the same for my mind. We Ethereals were a race originally created by the Ancient Gods to be their weapons in battle. In order to prevent an Ethereal from losing herself from the eternity that is to come, our minds are guarded by an ancient spell that removes that apeirophobia. So to me, the only measure to my existence is our ages, for me that truly is an important thing. Overall what I want to say, age is to remind us of the moment we came into existence, that means the oldest one among us, is, of course, Lara."

"So you said all of that sh*t just to tease me about my age?" 

"I'm not teasing you, I'm just stating a fact. Among the three of us, you could pretty much be my grandmother. Not to mention you're super weak at the moment, just like an aged grandmother." Tsukiyomi smugly smiled at Lara. 

"Ever since you came, you've done nothing more than piss me off. It doesn't matter now if you're stronger than me or not. This time I'm going to pound you to the ground!" Lara clenched her fist and got into a stance. 

"You think you can take me on?" Tsukiyomi shrugged her shoulders. As the two were about to fight, Silika was going to sneak away when the two attacked from behind and she evaded. 

"Don't think you can escape," Lara spoke while glaring at Silika. 

"It would seem that I need to deal with the two of you at once." Silika sighed as she faced the two. 

"Taking you two grandmas out won't be too much of a problem." Tsukiyomi arrogantly declared. 

...

As the three girls seem like they were about to fight Sepchel stood beside Nezzard and asked. "Should we stop them?" When Nezzard heard what Sepchel he looked at the knight like he was an idiot. 

"Are you crazy? Any one of those girls could kill us with nothing but a finger, besides, I don't think we need to interfere. Just look at their expressions." 

Sepchel took a closer look at the expressions on the three women's faces. Even though they were glaring at each other, the three were actually smiling. Not to mention there was no bloodlust among them. 

"I think this is just their way of communicating." 

While everyone was looking at the three women, no one had noticed that Valdel was no longer in the throne room. 

...

On top of the highest tower that overlooked the entirety of New Grenton Ren was laying down watching the clouds in the sky. 

"That's not the look I was expecting you to have after making such an announcement," Valdel spoke as he landed on top of the tower. Ren didn't look at Valdel as he stretched out his hands as if wanting to grab a cloud in the sky. 

"You know there was once a time that I was envious of the birds in the sky. They were free and could fly anywhere. I once thought that if I gained overwhelming power I would become as free as them, but that wasn't the case as even the powerful weren't free."

"... What are you trying to say, Ren?" 

Ren stood up and looked at Valdel with a smile on his face. It wasn't his usual smile that was vicious and intimidating, for some reason that smile that he was showing felt rather lonely. 

"It's nothing, just something I used to think about when I was a young demon in my past life... Say Val, what if I tell you that I have become too strong, and I could now go to the place where the world deities reside. What will you do then?" 

"Of course, I will follow you." 

"What if your strength is not enough, and only those as strong as Silika and Tsukiyomi can follow. What will you do then?" 

"Then I just need to get even more powerful so that I could follow you there. I won't allow our adventure to end because of such a thing. Why are you asking all of these questions, do you actually have the power to get to the realm above?" Valdel looked at Ren with a serious expression, and Ren looked at him with the same expression. The two stared at each other for a few seconds before Ren smirked. 

"Heh, that was just a hypothetical question. I don't have time to go to the upper realms yet, as I'm not yet done conquering this place first. I'm heading back to the throne room since I feel that those three girls are doing something rather interesting." Ren passed by Valdel, and it was at that moment thought he heard Ren whisper something to him. 

"Thanks, Val."